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  • WHERE I WORK

To look after these birds is to ‘fall in love’ with them

Andrew Digby works to protect the kakapo, a critically endangered and charismatic New Zealand species of parrot.
  1. Amber Dance

    1. Amber Dance is a freelance writer in Los Angeles, California.

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Andrew Digby crouches down next to a kakapo

Andrew Digby is Science Adviser Kakapo/Takahe for the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Credit: Deidre Vercoe/New Zealand Department of Conservation

Kakapo are probably the weirdest birds in the world: they’re large, flightless, nocturnal parrots. Found only in New Zealand, they are critically endangered and now live only on four predator-free sanctuary islands. Thanks to intensive management of their populations and breeding, we now have 201 birds in our sanctuaries — up from a low of 51 in 1995.

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Nature 580, 556 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01129-7

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